Along with Oliver McCall , he is also the only world heavyweight champion to have never been knocked down in any fight.

Klitschko and George Foreman are the only heavyweight boxers in history to defend a world title after turning His younger brother, Wladimir , is a former unified world heavyweight champion.

From until , Vitali and Wladimir dominated heavyweight boxing, a period typically known as the " Klitschko Era " of the division.

Klitschko formally began his political career in when he placed second in the Kiev mayoral race. He was a leading figure in the — Euromaidan protests, and he announced his possible candidacy for the Ukrainian presidency but later withdrew and endorsed Petro Poroshenko.

Originally, Klitschko was an amateur kickboxer with a record of 34—2 with 22 knockouts. He was a kickboxing world champion six times four in professionals and two in amateurs.

As an amateur , Klitschko won the super-heavyweight championship at the first World Military Games in Italy in In his autobiography, published in Germany in , the boxer revealed that he tested positive for a banned steroid in He attributed the presence of the drug to treatment of a leg injury, but was dismissed from the Ukrainian boxing team and missed the Atlanta Olympics.

His amateur record was —15 with 80 knockouts. Klitschko began his professional boxing career in , winning his first twenty-four fights by either early knockout or technical knockout.

He and Wladimir signed with the German athlete-promotion company Universum. With both brothers holding PhDs and being multilingual, their refined and articulate personalities made for mainstream marketability when they moved to Germany and Universum.

In time, they became national celebrities in their adopted home country. He successfully defended the title twice.

He defeated Ed Mahone by knockout in the third round and beat Obed Sullivan , who retired after the ninth round.

By April Vitali Klitschko was unbeaten and a rising star in the heavyweight division, having won all 27 of his contests by knockout.

On 1 April, Klitschko had a third title defense against the American Chris Byrd , who was a late replacement. Klitschko won most of the rounds and was heading towards a comprehensive points victory when he suffered a serious shoulder injury.

After the ninth round, Klitschko notified his corner that he had a shoulder pain and threw in the towel , thus handing Klitschko his first defeat and awarding Byrd the win by RTD.

Klitschko, who was later diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff , received much criticism for quitting the fight. Johnson, however, pulled out of the fight due to injury and Klitschko, due to his being in training for a fight on the same day as Lewis, took the fight on short notice.

Klitschko, a 4—1 underdog, dominated the early going with many harder punches. Negotiations for a 6 December rematch began.

In January , the WBC announced that it would strip Lewis of the belt if he let pass a 15 March deadline to sign for a rematch with Vitali. For years after this fight, Klitschko would still occasionally call out Lewis, despite the fact that Lewis has been retired since early , for a rematch.

In January they notified Universum that they would not re-sign when their contracts expired in April. Universum sued the brothers, arguing that their recent injuries had triggered a clause binding them beyond April.

The suit was ultimately resolved in favor of the Klitschkos in November Klitschko took a heavy shot in round one by Sanders and almost knocked down right at the end of the round, but by using upper-body movement and accurate punching he broke down Sanders over the following rounds, forcing referee Jon Schorle to stop the bout in the eighth.

Williams had become suddenly marketable from a KO over Mike Tyson in round 4. Klitschko scored a technical knockout against Williams in 8 rounds on 11 December , while wearing an orange cloth to show support for the Ukrainian presidential opposition movement.

Klitschko knocked Williams down in the 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 8th rounds before the fight was stopped. Immediately afterward, Klitschko dedicated his victory to democracy in his native Ukraine and also to the Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko , whom he supported in 26 December , election revote.

On 9 November , Klitschko announced his retirement from professional boxing and vacated his title. He had been training to fight Hasim Rahman ; however, nine days before the fight, he injured his leg while sparring.

He snapped his anterior cruciate ligament , which with surgery would take up to a year to heal and possibly prove career ending.

To avoid keeping the title out of use he retired. The WBC was grateful for his consideration. On other occasions he cited regrets about his suddenly mounting injuries, a desire to leave the sport while still on top and political aspirations in his home country of Ukraine.

At the time, there was interest in a potential Peter vs. Instead, Vitali took advantage of his champion emeritus status and secured a title challenge against Peter.

The fight was arranged on 11 October at O2 World, Berlin. It would be one of the most anticipated heavyweight fights in the past few years.

Both men had a rightful claim to being the champion and the stakes for the future of the heavyweight division were high. Klitschko had Peter intimidated from the first round and stunned him with accurate hard punches.

Klitschko kept the hard-punching Nigerian off with an effective left jab and took control in the center of the ring.

Over eight rounds, Klitschko completely dismantled and outfought the younger champion. After the eighth round, Peter slumped on his stool, shook his head and asked that the bout be stopped.

By the sixth round, Vitali was in total control. He therefore employed a game-plan which involved applying constant pressure to Vitali in order to force him into a high tempo fight.

Despite his best efforts, the bout became one sided very quickly. Klitschko consistently proved himself faster, sharper and much fitter than Arreola.

On 12 December, Vitali defeated Kevin Johnson by unanimous decision, winning almost every round. Though he proved hard to hit, he failed to launch any sustained attack of his own.

Sosnowski was knocked down by a right hand in the 10th round, prompting referee Jay Nady to immediately wave off the fight.

Sosnowski was the No. Klitschko completely dismantled his challenger with superior hand speed. Briggs struggled to land any meaningful punches, as Klitschko won every round decisively.

After a few rounds, Briggs was receiving a vicious and sustained beating which caused him serious facial injuries. Considering the beating he was receiving, there was some suggestion that the referee should have stopped the bout during the last few rounds.

Klitschko had retained his belt with official scores of —, —, and — During the post-fight interview, the American boxer Briggs said: The bout was tentatively scheduled for March Klitschko won by KO.

The referee stopped the bout after Adamek received punishing blows and was ruled out, as he was no longer able to defend himself.

After turning 41 on 19 July , Vitali became one of the oldest Heavyweight Champions in history. Despite having a four-year hiatus from the sport, Vitali has proven to be a remarkably effective and dominant Heavyweight Champion once again.

Alongside his brother Wladimir, he also fights on for their shared ambition of holding all four Heavyweight Championship belts together, an ambition that was realised on 2 July when brother Wladimir defeated David Haye to win the WBA Heavyweight Championship.

After Wladimir Klitschko had to cancel his fight with Jean-Marc Mormeck , it was thought that Vitali was likely to fight on 25 February The fight was fought against a backdrop of antagonism displayed by the contender Dereck Chisora at the weigh in.

Chisora slapped Klitschko across the face causing a red mark to be left. Vitali won the majority of the rounds boxing a disciplined fight with changing angles and superior footwork.

Chisora, constantly coming forward delivering punishing body shots, failed to wear down the older man. A doctor confirmed a ligament tear was suffered in his left shoulder.

Klitschko said he "suddenly lost strength in the left hand" and was forced to only use his right. The injury was believed to have happened in the second or third round.

At the post-fight press conference, a brawl ensued between Haye and Chisora. After the altercation, Chisora challenged Haye to a fight in the ring and said, "I am going to shoot David Haye.

His comments and actions were later condemned by Frank Warren, his promoter, and Wladimir Klitschko. Klitschko was expected to face Bermane Stiverne in a mandatory title defense, but was forced to pull out due to injury.

On 15 December , Vitali Klitschko stepped back from boxing. He was announced champion emeritus, which means that if he wants to return to boxing, he can fight the WBC Heavyweight Champion without having any fights beforehand.

During the Ukrainian presidential election and the following Orange Revolution , the Klitschko brothers openly supported the candidacy of Viktor Yushchenko.

Klitschko began campaigning for Mayor of Kiev shortly after his retirement in Klitschko simultaneously led the Vitaliy Klychko Bloc that won Support consisted in logistics, training and joint performances.

In October , Klitschko announced that he would run in the Kiev mayoral election. Klitschko announced on 24 October that he intended to take part in the next Ukrainian presidential election that was then set for Klitschko was one of the dominant figures of the Euromaidan protests.

Klitschko headed the election list of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc in the late October Ukrainian parliamentary election , but he vowed not to resign as Mayor of Kiev.

In the Kiev mayoral election Klitschko was reelected with Klitschko resigned as Petro Poroshenko Bloc chairman on 26 May after a new law barring a head of administration to be chairman or a member of a political party took effect on 1 May In December Klitschko described the judicial system of Ukraine as "complete degradation" and accused it of violating human rights and humiliating its prisoners.

In early April Klitschko called for early presidential and parliamentary elections in Ukraine. The elder Klitschko was also one of the commanders in charge of cleaning up the effects of the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster in and was afterward diagnosed with cancer.

Klitschko has been accused of working as a debt collector in the s for mafia boss Viktor Rybalko. Vitali Klitschko is married to Natalia Egorova, a former athlete and model.

In , Klitschko graduated from the Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky Pedagogical Institute Ukraine [13] and was accepted into the postgraduate study program at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

On 29 February , he presented his doctoral thesis on "talent and sponsorship in sports" [] at the "Kyiv University of Physical Science and Sports" and his PhD in Sports Science was conferred.

Klitschko has lived for years in Germany in addition to residing in Kiev. Both Vitali and his brother are avid chess players.

Vitali is a friend of former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik and the two have played, with Kramnik always winning.

Vitali has commented that "chess is similar to boxing. You need to develop a strategy, and you need to think two or three steps ahead about what your opponent is doing.

You have to be smart. In chess, nobody is an expert, but everybody plays. In boxing everybody is an expert, but nobody fights.

Vitali and his brother also have been involved in charitable activities dedicated to supporting the needs of schools, churches and children.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs ; the patronymic is Volodymyrovych and the family name is Klitschko.

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. It just means so much to me to come here and get the decision.

And thanks very much for having me. It was all fun and games during the buildup. He said, "Tyson was the faster and better man tonight.

I felt quite comfortable in the first six rounds, but I was astonished that Tyson was so fast in the second half as well. Klitschko was entitled to a rematch with Fury as part of the contract for their first fight.

He apologised to his fans and confirmed the fight would be rescheduled for a later date. On Thursday 7 July, Fury announced via his Twitter account that the rescheduled fight would take place on 29 October at Manchester Arena.

On 23 September, Fury again postponed the fight after being declared "medically unfit", [] before eventually vacating the WBA "Super", WBO and IBO titles, citing problems with depression after testing positive for cocaine.

Days after the Fury rematch was called off, Klitschko was approached by Eddie Hearn , promoter of IBF champion Anthony Joshua , to fight on the 28 November date they had set for a second defence.

Klitschko then turned his attention to fighting Browne instead on 10 December, a date his team had an arena set for in Germany. Talks between the Klitschko camp and Hearn remained active with a fight set for the first part of Because of this clashing with the WBA enforcing their mandatory, it was believed that either Joshua or Klitschko would have to vacate a title.

He put a request in for 5, more tickets to be made available. Joshua came in heavier at pounds. In front of a post-war record crowd of 90, in attendance, Joshua won by TKO in a high-drama war that saw both men giving their all.

They fought a close and cautious first four rounds. In the fifth, Joshua came out roaring and barraged Klitschko to the canvas.

An angry Klitschko rose up and dominated Joshua for the remainder of the round, before landing a clean right hand and scoring his own knockdown in round 6.

Joshua then put together a few small but powerful combinations which sent his opponent to the canvas. Klitschko again rose but Joshua knocked him down for a second time in the round by unleashing a devastating combination of 7 punches flooring Klitschko with his deadly left hook.

Moments later Joshua tried to end the fight by swinging a few right hooks and managed to back Klitschko in to the ropes where he again sent a barrage of punches with no reply.

The referee then concluded that Klitschko had taken enough punishment and stopped the fight. I need to analyze and see what the heck happened.

I wish I could have raised my hands, but congrats to him. He got up, he fought back, and he won the titles.

Big respect to Wladimir for challenging the young lions of the division. The fight averaged , viewers on Showtime in the United States.

It was shown live and the fight began around 5 p. ET and 2 p. Nielsen Media Research revealed the fight peaked at , viewers which was during rounds five and six.

The whole card averaged 9. This was higher than the 8. Haye, which was seen by over 16 million. At this point, it was not said that the rematch would take place.

Klitschko said he needed time to review his situation before agreeing to a rematch. It was only weeks after the fight, when Eddie Hearn filed the paperwork to the IBF to request the exception to the mandatory defense.

IBF explained that the rematch must take place no later than 2 December and the winner must fight Pulev next with no exceptions.

He had a tour of the T-Mobile Arena. There is a huge appetite from both sides to hold the rematch there and we will be talking further over the next week or so to see if that can become a reality.

It would be the biggest heavyweight Vegas fight in probably a couple of decades, so we would love to host it.

On 3 August , Wladimir Klitschko announced on his official website and social media channels that he was retiring from boxing. He competed in 29 world title fights.

Throughout his career, Wladimir defeated 23 boxers in 25 victorious fights for the world title, thus holding the record for the most title bout wins against the most opponents in boxing history among legitimate [] champions.

Klitschko also holds the record for the longest combined world championship reign in heavyweight history at 4, days; the most wins in world title bouts in the modern heavyweight history at 25; the most wins in unified title bouts and the longest unified championship reign in professional boxing history at 15 title bouts and 14 consecutive defenses respectively; and has the second most total successful title defenses of any heavyweight boxer with 23 including his first reign as WBO champion , behind Joe Louis 25 and ahead of Larry Holmes 20 and Muhammad Ali He also holds the record of having defeated the most boxers with an undefeated record, at 12, [ clarification needed ] and also defeated 12 current or former world champions throughout his career.

Klitschko is also a passionate golfer and was seen playing in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

The tournament was played over three courses in including St Andrews, Carnoustie, and Kingsbarns in Fife and Angus. Klitschko was named curator of the Ukrainian pavilion at the Venice Biennale.

Since , Klitschko had been in a relationship with American actress Hayden Panettiere. Wladimir and his brother Vitali have never fought each other in a professional fight as their mother made them promise to never fight each other.

Klitschko speaks four languages: English, German, Russian and Ukrainian. Klitschko said he would use the money to help the dreams of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian children.

After the sale, the buyer immediately returned the medal out of respect for Klitschko and because he wanted it to remain with the Klitschko family.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. At one point, they ran 12 meter [roughly a half mile] sprints, each under 3 minutes, with a minute rest between each one.

I timed every one and every one was under 3 minutes. I never saw a heavyweight do anything even close to that. They work their asses off.

Johnathon Banks To Replace Steward". A Legend Passes Away". Retrieved 15 August Klitschko to defend title vs. Retrieved 1 May All the top sports news.

Klitschko stops Pianeta in six". Retrieved 4 November Klitschko grinds while Cotto shines". Klitschko W 12 Povetkin". Retrieved 4 December Archived from the original on 6 January The Sydney Morning Herald.

Retrieved 8 March Retrieved 26 April Retrieved on 28 November Tyson Fury wins unanimous decision against Wladimir Klitschko". Top stats to know".

Retrieved 8 April World heavyweight rematch on hold". Retrieved 26 September Retrieved 29 October Archived from the original on 31 October Joshua v Klitschko sanctioned; Ortiz out; Browne v Briggs ordered".

Retrieved 11 December Retrieved 21 December Klitschko - Over 80, Tickets Sold". Retrieved 17 January Retrieved 28 April The Business of MMA".

Joshua-Klitschko pulls in k in US, exceeds 10 million in Germany". Retrieved 2 April Retrieved 9 October Retrieved 4 January Retrieved 6 May Has Wladimir really killed heavyweight boxing?

With both brothers holding PhDs and being william hill casino club cashout, their casino royal mottoparty and articulate personalities made for mainstream marketability when they moved to Germany and Universum. Retrieved 22 Beste torhüter Retrieved 4 January The Ruleta casino online fight was the first heavyweight unification since Holyfield-Lewis in BallsporthalleFrankfurt, Germany. Top stats to know". Chisora, constantly coming forward delivering punishing body shots, failed to wear down the older casino in osnabrück. Vacant Title last held by Ike Ibeabuchi. Klitschko had Peter intimidated from the first round and stunned him with omnia casino secret code hard punches. He put a request in for livestreambundesliga, more tickets to be made available. Vacant Title next held by Luan Krasniqi. Lost WBC International wilder westen party title. The bout between Klitschko and Povetkin was initially tentatively scheduled to take place in FrankfurtHessenGermany, on 11 Champions casino koblenz Klitschko formally began his political career in when he placed second in the Kiev mayoral race. Mobile strike tipps swung wildly in the tenth and Klitschko put him down scgo casino a concussive combination. Retrieved 10 May If not Vitali, bring on Wlad". This was made up of friendscout.24 jabs and 15 power shots indian casino california Preussag ArenaHanover, Germany. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wladimir Klitschko. He dropped Pianeta with a right hand in round four, a left hand put Pianeta down in the fifth; the fight ended at 2: Wales fight back from down to stun France in Paris Rugby Union. After the eighth round, Peter slumped on his stool, shook his head and asked that the bout be stopped. In der Vorbereitung auf den Kampf musste Klitschko zudem auf seinen langjährigen Trainer Emanuel Steward verzichten, der an den Folgen einer Darmerkrankung am Juli Klitschkos Geständnisse "Ich habe das Boxen nicht geliebt". Diese Woche bei "red. Klitschko in world championship, Full fight. Vereinigte Staaten Brian Sargent. Klitschko besiegte den Polen durch K. Juni bis 1. Nachdem er ein derartiges Comeback lange ausgeschlossen hatte, wurde am Sein Stil war in erster Linie durch einen starken Jab geprägt, den er als Dublette oder einzeln herausschlug. Ihm und seinem Bruder Vitali zu Ehren wurde der am Aufgrund seiner tiefen Linken, die er variantenreich als Gerade , Kopf - oder Aufwärtshaken von unten schlug, konnte er seine starke Führhand platzieren, ohne dass der Gegner diese sah.